Tennis

February 12, 2006

Mauresmo to face Pierce Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo saved a match point to reach the final of the Gaz de France in Paris, beating unseeded Tatiana Golovin 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday. The Australian Open champion will face French compatriot Mary Pierce, who beat fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2. Mauresmo seemed on her way to easily claiming the first set, leading 5-0. But Golovin ran around her backhand to hit forehand winners and leveled it at 6-6 after Mauresmo squandered five set points. Mauresmo dropped the tiebreaker on a series of forehand and backhand errors. Golovin then broke the No. 2nd-ranked Mauresmo's serve in the second set. But Golovin missed a match-point at 5-4, surrendering the set to Mauresmo on a backhand into the net. Mauresmo broke in the third on a backhand into the top of the net that landed on the other side for a 4-2 lead. In the earlier semifinal, second-seeded Pierce cruised by Schnyder. Pierce took control in the second set, breaking Schnyder twice for a 4-1 lead, and converted her second match point on a backhand into the net by Schnyder. Davis quarters set Defending champion Croatia, Argentina, France, Russia and Belarus advanced to the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup on Saturday by winning doubles matches for unbeatable 3-0 leads. Croatia became the first defending champion in two years to survive the first round when Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic rallied from two sets down to defeat Jurgen Melzer and Julian Knowle. Croatia will host Argentina in September's quarterfinals. Russia beat the Netherlands in its first-round match, Belarus upset 2004 champion Spain, Argentina swept Sweden, and France beat Germany. Australia, a 28-time champion, has a lead of 2-1 over Switzerland, which is missing the top-ranked Roger Federer.